The God of Abraham Is My God


For what says the scripture?  Abraham believed God, and it was counted unto him for righteousness.  Romans 4:3

Abraham is presented not merely as an ancient patriarch but as the pattern of every believer: God takes the initiative, reveals Himself, calls a person out of an old life, and brings them into a life of faith, obedience, and promise. For righteousness is God’s gift, received by faith rather than earned by human effort.

God initiates salvation

Abraham’s spiritual life began when “the God of glory appeared” to him while he was still in Mesopotamia, before Abraham had done anything to merit God’s attention. This teaches that salvation begins with God’s gracious call, not with human achievement.

For this is the decisive difference between biblical Christianity and human religion: religion is often “man reaching up to God,” while the gospel is God revealing Himself and acting for humanity. He frames the gospel as God having done everything necessary for salvation in Christ.

Faith means recognizing reality

Abraham’s encounter with the living God convinced him that all other gods were “vanity and nothing.” This is the first step of faith: once a soul truly grasps God’s glory, it cannot treat lesser things as ultimate.

The spiritual truth is that faith is not blind optimism or mere intellectual agreement. It is a transformed perception of reality—seeing the true God as supreme and every rival loyalty, security, or idol as insufficient.

Faith produces separation and obedience

God’s command to Abraham—“Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father’s house”—was fundamentally a call to separation. Genuine faith necessarily changes the direction of a life; it is not merely private belief but a break with the old order.

This separation is in two dimensions:

  • Separation from the world: leaving the values, idols, and systems that opposed God.

  • Separation from “the flesh”: renouncing self-centered ties, habits, and desires that compete with God’s rule.

Thus, obedience is not the basis of justification, but it is the inevitable fruit of having truly met God.

Abraham is a pattern for believers

Abraham is “a pattern case” for all who believe. His journey from Ur to Canaan illustrates the believer’s movement from an old identity into a new standing before God.

This connects directly to Paul’s argument in Romans 4: Abraham was counted righteous by faith, and Scripture records this not only for his sake but “for us” who believe in the God who raised Jesus from the dead. The lesson is that believers share Abraham’s spiritual lineage: they are justified in the same way—by trusting God’s promise.

Grace, not merit

A central truth is that no one can produce the righteousness God requires. God is righteous in Himself and therefore demands righteousness, but because human beings cannot supply it, He freely provides it through Christ.

Abraham’s life illustrates this “logic of grace”: God chose and called him despite his pagan background and former worship of false gods. God’s love is not earned by human worthiness; it flows from God’s own will and character.

The cross secures the promise

Abraham’s faith is linked to the finished work of Christ. Old Testament believers trusted the forgiveness God had promised; New Testament believers trust the forgiveness God has accomplished in history through Jesus’ death and resurrection. In both cases, salvation rests on substitutionary atonement—Christ bearing the penalty sinners deserved.

The abiding truth is that God remains perfectly just while freely forgiving: sin is not overlooked, but its penalty is borne by Christ.

Practical takeaways

  • Seek God as He reveals Himself, rather than reshaping God into a comfortable idea.

  • Let faith lead to concrete obedience, including separation from whatever competes with God.

  • Stop trying to earn acceptance with God; receive His righteousness by faith.

  • Remember that God’s call is persistent, even when obedience falters or is delayed.

  • Live from a new identity in Christ, not from the old life left behind.

In short, the God of Abraham is the God who calls, justifies, transforms, and keeps those who trust Him—making Abraham’s faith the enduring model of grace received through believing obedience.

My Notes from Donald Grey Barnhouse's chapter "The God of Abraham" in his book Romans, vol 3: God's Remedy

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Wrestling With God

Image
But does not God do man an injustice by requiring in His law what man cannot do?  No,  for God so created man that he was able to do it.  But man, at the instigation of the devil,  in deliberate disobedience robbed himself and all his descendants of these gifts.  One could say that in this Lord’s Day at least in the questions our flesh, that is our sinful nature, is speaking.  For not only now but also throughout all centuries it has continually carried on a dialogue with God in finally seeking to justify itself over against Him.  That is the sinful nature that never lets itself be cornered or captured but always comes up with some sort of response, or even better, knows how to devise yet another query.  It always knows how to avoid the snare and to escape the threat of defeat.  How consistently it maintains this is understood by everyone who knows himself well.  What the Heidelberg describes here takes place in everyone’s life: wrestlin...
Read more

By God's Word at Last My Sin I Learned

Image
From where do you know your sins and misery?  From the law of God. The knowledge of misery is a knowing by faith  or as we might also call it: a faith knowledge.  We come to know this in the relationship of faith in Jesus Christ, and without that relationship it does not exist.  With that we are assured that there is no knowledge of misery,  in the sense that it is meant here,  without the knowledge of redemption.  Faith focuses on the whole of God’s Word and can never accept one aspect of the truth of God without the other.  We can never submit in faith to the judgment of God without that same faith taking hold of the gospel of redemption.  God’s Word and faith are certainly distinct, but faith from its very beginning embraces God’s entire revelation in its various dimensions,  even if it is only in embryo.  Therefore, we cannot possibly address the matter of our misery except in terms of the knowledge of faith.  Without faith...
Read more

His Eye is on This Sparrow

Image
Jesus also preserves me in such a way   that without the will of my heavenly Father not a hair can fall from my head;  indeed, all things must work together for my salvation.  For the Bible Tells Me So... John 6:39,40 “This is the will of the Father who sent Me, that of all He has given Me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up at the last day.  And this is the will of Him who sent Me, that everyone who sees the Son and believes in Him may have everlasting life; and I will raise him up at the last day.”  John 10:27-30 “My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me.  And I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; neither shall anyone snatch them out of My hand. My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of My Father’s hand. I and My Father are one.”  2 Thessalonians 3:3 But the Lord is faithful, who will establish you and guard you from the evil one.  1 Peter...
Read more